Rolling Stone India Premiere: Listen to Entropia’s New Album ‘Ufonaut’

Poland post-metal/black metal band Entropia. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

For anyone who thought that the contemplative, ambient-influenced cinematic style of post-rock would be poles apart from the abrasive, pained destruction of black metal, there’s an entire subgenre called blackgaze that can change your mind. Popularized by the likes of American band Deafheaven since 2011, the combination of black metal, shoegaze and post-rock continues to morph.

Poland’s post-metal/black metal band Entropia’s second album Ufonaut belongs in those grey areas. The follow-up to their atmospheric metal debut Vesper in 2013, the seven-track Ufonaut has an undercurrent of eerie synth and guitar lines set to the blistering yet sometimes chugging groove-led metal. Entropia are relentless on songs like “Fractal” and “Mandala,” which, along with the artwork, denote their influence from Indian spiritual philosophy. Vocalist-guitarist U aka Michał Dziedzic picks “Apogeum” as his top track from the album. He adds, “This song feels like a turning point for us on so many levels and deals with many topics we had to face as band and people. It is about understanding our place in the universe and making peace with it, and as our ability to shape our reality is completely subjective, retaining an orderly set of beliefs that will bring you comfort is absolutely crucial to achieve some sort of fulfilment.”

Entropia, who came together in 2007, say their new album doesn’t completely give up the “angst and mood” heard on Vesper. Dzeidzic says, “For us, it feels like the formula was not abandoned, but reinvented.” There’s a certain spiritual overtone to the sound and artwork that gives Ufonaut a psychedelic edge. The band describes the influence of a “psychedelic vision of the world lacking peace and divine order,” which interestingly, is the opposite of what every Om-chant-sampling psychedelic band sang about back in the Sixties and Seventies.